Leatherface
Leatherface, whose real name is Jedidiah "Jed" Sawyer, is a character in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre horror-film series and its spin-offs. He wears masks made of human skin (hence his name) and engages in murder and cannibalism, alongside his inbredfamily. Leatherface appeared in the first film in the series (1974) and in its six subsequent continuations and remakes. Wisconsinkiller Ed Gein, who wore a mask made of human skin, was reportedly the inspiration for the character. He is considered to be the main antagonist of the franchise because he drives most of the plots and appears in all of the movies even though he takes orders from his older family members The original film never showed Leatherface without one of his human-hide faces on. Leatherface used to work as a butcher at the meat factory. Gunnar Hansen, who portrayed Leatherface in the original 1974 film, sees Leatherface as "completely under the control of his family. He'll do whatever they tell him to do. He's a little bit afraid of them." In the documentary The Shocking Truth,Tobe Hooper portrays Leatherface as a "big baby" who kills in self-defense because he feels threatened. In the first film, Leatherface shows fear when new people enter his home. Leatherface's family uses the bones of the people he kills (along with some animal bones) to build the inside of their house. They process the victims' flesh into barbecue and chili, which Drayton Sawyer, a skilled chef, sells at his restaurant/gas station, the "Last Chance" gas station. They also enter human-flesh dishes at cook-offs (according to the sequel, Drayton has won two cooking awards doing this). Aside from Leatherface and Drayton, the Sawyer clan includes several more brothers, a hitchhiker named Nubbins Sawyer, Nubbins' twin brother, a Vietnam vet known as Chop Top or Plate Head, a hitchhiking cowboy named Eddie/Tex, a hook-handed man named Tech/Tinker, a deranged pervert named Alfredo/Fred, a tow-truck driver named Vilmer and a redneck know-it-all named W.E. Apart from the brothers, the Sawyer clan includes the supercentenarian Grandpa, the dead Grandma/Great-Grandma Sawyer (whose corpse has been preserved), a wheelchair-bound mother called Mama and Leatherface's daughter (first names unknown). In the first film, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), siblings Sally and Franklin Hardesty go out with their friends to investigate the robbing of their grandfather's grave. They run afoul of Nubbins and eventually the rest of the Sawyer family, culminating in Leatherface's killing off of the entire group except Sally. Sally is kept alive and manages an escape attempt, with Leatherface and Nubbins in pursuit. Sally manages to stop a passing truck, which runs over Nubbins. While the panicking trucker and Sally escape, the trucker throws a wrench at Leatherface, causing him to fall backwards and cut into his leg with his own chainsaw. Sally makes another escape attempt, and manages to escape Leatherface in a pickup truck. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, a direct sequel to the 1974 film, featured a more campy and over-the-top atmosphere than the original. Tobe Hooper stated on The Shocking Truth that he wanted to expand on the dark comedy in the original film, as he felt no one truly picked up on this element. In this film, the Hitchhiker is replaced by his hippy twin brother Chop Top (who transforms his dead twin's corpse into a puppet), while the cook, Drayton, has become an award-winning chef. Leatherface develops a "crush" on one of his victims, and in one scene, removes the skin from the face of her still-living friend and places it on her to hide her from the rest of his family. At the end of the film, he apparently dies in an explosion after being impaled with a chainsaw in a fight with the uncle of his previous victims from the first film. Leatherface's clan's last name is also revealed in the film when brother Drayton wins a local cook-off, their family name being Sawyer. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, became the second sequel in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series. The film was made as a reboot and a sequel, so the audience could interpret it as a direct sequel or as an alternative sequel in a different continuity of the previous two films, though several references are made to the previous two films, including Leatherface having a knee brace from his chainsaw accident at the climax of the first film, brother Alfredo owning a gas station and truck labeled "Last Chance Gas", the family's last name remaining Sawyer from the previous film and the inclusion of several characters from both earlier films. The filmmakers attempted to make the series darker and grittier (much as the film-makers of the original had intended), but they had to tone it down and change the ending after interventions from the MPAA. New Linereleased an uncut version to the home-video market in 2003. In this film Leatherface has an extended family and a daughter - possibly the product of a rape.3 A four-issue comic series based on the film, entitled Leatherface, was created; portions of the comics are narrated by and shown from Leatherface's point of view. Note that horror actor Kane Hodder choreographed the stunts and played the stunt-double Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation's prologue describes the second and third films as "two minor, yet apparently related incidents". The film features Leatherface as a yelping, pizza-eating transvestite involved in an Illuminati conspiracy to provide society a source of horror, and, again, with a different family. Texas Chainsaw 3D, a Leatherface returned in the direct sequel to the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Texas Chainsaw 3D, which also serves as a reboot to the franchise. The films picks up directly where the original 1974 film ended, as Sally escapes and flees to the local Sheriff of Newt, Texas, whom then drives out to the Sawyer property to arrest Leatherface. However, during the negotiation between the sheriff and the Sawyer clan, a rowdy group of local citizens arrive, intent on vigilante justice, and soon the townspeople toss a molotov cocktail onto the Sawyer house, setting it on fire, as a large shoot-out begins between the angry mob and the Sawyers, in which all but three Sawyer family members die, the survivors being Leatherface, his apparent sister and her baby daughter. Later that night, the half dead Sawyer female is found by one of the vigilantes, whom promptly kicks her to death, whilst he steals her baby, which he gives to his childless wife as a gift. Several years later, the surviving Sawyer baby, the young adult Heather, learns of her true parentage via news of her natural grandmother's recent death. Heather is then invited to go to Newt, Texas, because she was left a large estate in her grandmother's will. Heather's boyfriend Ryan and a couple of friends accompany her to give her support. However, they soon discover that Heather was not the only Sawyer to survive the 1973 house fire, because living in the basement of the large family home is her cousin Leatherface, whom soon begins another killing spree. In a post-credits scene, Heather's adoptive parents arrive at the mansion, greedily discussing how they plan to split the assets Heather now owns. Leatherface then shocks them as he answers the door, chainsaw in hand. Marcus Nispel directed a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003. Its success greenlit a prequel, released in 2006, which delved into the origins of Leatherface and of his family. In this continuity, Leatherface's real name is Thomas Brown Hewitt; his mother Sloane dies giving birth to him on August 7, 1939 at the Blair Meat Co., a slaughterhouse where she works, and her uncaring boss leaves the infant to die in a dumpster. Luda Mae Hewitt finds him and takes him home to raise him. The Hewitts worked at the Blair Meat Co., but after losing their jobs they switched to kidnapping people, murdering them (often by chainsaw or shotgun) and butchering their flesh, as family member Charlie claims that he got the idea from eating human flesh in the Korean War after he became a prisoner of war. The prequel reveals that they do eat the meat of their victims; the remake only implies this. Leatherface in this continuity suffers from a facial disfigurement and a skin disease that caused severe deformities and tumors to his face. Due to this disfigurement, his muteness and mental retardation (carried over from the first series), other children bullied the boy. He wore a small leather mask to cover up his deformity, and worked at the same meat factory where he was born, for the same boss as his mother - the same man who had left him for dead. He also had a tendency toward self-mutilation, and a doctor diagnosed him as suffering from a type of neurodegeneration at age 12. After health inspectors shut the factory down, Hewitt's boss and a reluctant co-worker ordered him to leave. When Hewitt didn't, the boss and the co-worker bullied him, calling him a "retard" and a "dumb animal". Acting on a long-burning rage, Hewitt killed his boss with a sledgehammer. He later discovered the chainsaw he used as a weapon after searching the now abandoned factory. When Winston Hoyt, the local sheriff, tried to apprehend him, Thomas' uncle, Charlie Hewitt came to his aid and killed the sheriff with his own gun. Charlie later assumed the sheriff's identity. Hewitt later made masks of human skin by slicing off the faces of his victims. Although Leatherface's family still manipulate him in this interpretation, they do show themselves somewhat more caring for him and less abusive than in the original film. Before killing the sheriff, his uncle Charlie even defends him by saying, "He's not retarded, he's misunderstood." The cruelty he suffers at the hands of his peers, in part, inspires his murderous behavior, however it's his uncle, Charlie, who encourages his anti-social behaviour and impulses. At the climax of the remake, protagonist Erin Hardesty cuts off Leatherface's chainsaw-wielding arm with a meat cleaver, and Erin is able to escape him, though Leatherface survives the cleaver attack. Leatherface escapes after police discover his ranch house and find the remains of 33 people. The police fail to secure the crime scene properly, allowing Leatherface to attack and kill two officers. Leatherface then escapes and disappears, and the case remains open. Andrew Bryniarski, who portrayed Leatherface in the remake, states: "In my estimation, Leatherface is like a beaten dog — he was ostracized and ridiculed, and treated harshly by his peers. The psychological damage they inflicted was immense — there's no chance for him."4 Terrence Evans, who played Leatherface's uncle Old Monty, says, "I think there was a chance Thomas' life could have been different. But the teasing he suffered, coupled with a bad temper, and following Hoyt around like a puppy dog, left room for Hoyt to get absolute control." Category:Texas Chainsaw Massacre Characters